Girdle



.s. T. METZ 2,585,262

GIRDLE Feb. 12, 1952 Filed Dec. 8, 1949 n 1 ii INVEN TOR.

. fi/l/VUEL I METZ A 7702 A/E r5 Patented Feb. 12, 1952 GIRDLE Samuel'1. Mctz, New; York, N. Y., assignor to Treo Co. Inc., Jamaica, N. Y., acorporation of New..York

Araliwfion D mete 8, S'e iel e 13 .51.!

2Glaims. (01. 236) 1 This invention relates to 'improvements in ad Otherhe on el s n 'ib e and to an improved method of makin such garments;

wardin to y in ention b d of t garment i s"made of material which'has noinhereet iiiej a 5 1 a a ea i b dabl an fol'd'able' knitted or wovenfabrici Said body is r fe abl made Wholly 9 7 in Par o t tc a material;which is optionally and preferably elastic.

:It has-been proposed. as in United States Patent Nos. 1,019,339;1,421,171; 1,797,39 1 ,837,958; 33 539. ..7 9 0 an ei s Na 0 3 to applya wavy reinforcing wire to various-articles.

Ac o n to ne emb dimen of my e ti I makethe body of the. garment from afront nt and a ar pa e w e i es are sewed to eachother. These panels canbe folded eeei efie ch' t e i 'fle hape.

I then apply a springy'or resilient Wire to said Headset he t edee i eof said od This wire has anbriginall straight shape, as one exam e. Inan e en he e s a 1" a esi ien wir dif e ent f t a brm ipe in which saidwire" connected to said body.

In cpneect ne he re i i fin no m sh pe wanna een us a S w'flig m 'w ahhas one orr'nore needles'which 'form 'zig -zag connecting stitohes" orother connecting stitches, which are optionally "and pref erablylock-stlt'ches; This machine has 'afiat'sew'ing plate'which" canb-e-lnserted'between the'panels.

I apply the original Wire, which is preferably a covered wire, graduallyto the'body o'fthe'ar ment, while shifting said body laterally amenallyrelative to the sewing station. and while gradually and successivelybending the original springy wire from its original shape, in order tofix the :wire by means of said connecting stitches to the body,. in thefinal normal shape of said wire. These-connecting stitches overlie thewire.

When the connecting stitches have been formed close to the ends of thewire, I optionally- 'and preferably connect the ends of the wire toea'chother by soldering or twisting or in any other suitable manner; and Icomplete the. connecting stitches so that they overlie said connectedends ofathe wire. Said connected ends of the wire are preferably locatedat one of the side edges of the body of the garment.

The final normal shape of the wire when it is connected-to theunstretche'd garment isa zigaagshape, whichhasgaltemate top and bottom2. points; The top points are located at or close-to. the top edge ofthe garment.

At each top point, the wire is preferably shaped to provide a downwardlycurved portion, whose top face is convex. At each bottom point, the wireis'perferably shaped to provide an upwardly. curved portion, whosebottom face is convex.

At each panel, these, curved portionsare connected by legs which arewholly or substantially. straight and vertical. These verticalresilient.- legs' maintain the top-portions of the front and back of thegarment in the desired normal shape. which is substantiallyflat whenthegarment is oft the body of the user. This prevents the-top edge-portionof the garment from rolling. down, and makes it unnecessary to providethe-usual bones or stays-or other stifiening devices.

' At each edge ofeach panel, a-s'idebranch of the springy wire isprovided. This side branch is upwardly curved at its bottom. These twoside branches have sufiicient resilience to normally transversely spacethe top edgeportions' of' the. front and back of'the body from eachother. This efiect is assisted by the curved shape .Of the wire at itstop ends.

' By applying lightpressurethe entire garment can be folded flat'withthe inner faces of the" panels abutting each other, and the garment canbe packed and'shipped in such flat shape.

When the garment is horizontally expanded at its circumferentiallycontinuous top, the resilient wire bendslan'd expands in unison'withthegarment. with a reduction in curvature of said curved portions. Thesecurved portions retain their curved shape when the garment is horizontally expanded to itslimit of expansion. The main decrease incurvature is at the 'topcllrvefi' portions. The decrease of curvature ofthef'bottom curved portions may bevery slightand even. negligible. Thisefiect is produced or assisted by providing, suitable vertical spacingbetween said top and bottom points of the wire.

The body of the garment may be madewholly of 'elastic' fabric which iselastic both vertically and horizontally. However; the invention'ls notlimited to such construction of'thebody, and it is applicable to anybodywhich is horizontally either extensible or elastic. Itis well-knowntomake the bodies of these garments with panels and parts which have"either one-way stretch or two-way stretch, and also to providenonstretcl l able inserts and'partsin these garments; so that thesedetails require no illustration;

Other lobjectsand features and advantages of my invention are set forthin the annexed description and drawings, which illustrate a preferredembodiment of my invention.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the garment, with the top reinforcingstrip removed, the bottom edge of said reinforcing strip being indicatedby a broken horizontal line. The resilient wire is shown in its normalshape and the garment is shown in normal non-expanded shape;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, showing the topreinforcing strip. The resilient wire is shown in its normalnon-extended shape; and

Fig. 5 is similar to Fig. 4, showing the garment horizontally expandedfrom its normal non-expanded shape of Figs. 1, 2 and 4, and showing thecorresponding bending and horizontal extension of the springy wire.

In this embodiment, the body of the garment consists of a front panel Iand a rear panel II, whose side edges are stitched to each other by sidestitches I2. In this embodiment, the panels In and I I are made whollyof two-way elastic knitted material, which is elastic in the horizontaland vertical directions, and also in directions diagonal to saidhorizontal and vertical directions. As above-noted, the invention is notlimited to this feature.

The body of the garment has a top edge I8 and a bottom edge I4. GartersI3 are fixed to bottom edge I4.

The covered springy wire I has top points II, at or close to the topedge I8 of the body of the garment.

In this embodiment, the wire has a downwardly curved portion at each toppoint I1.

At each panel I0 and II, the wire I5 has legs which extend downwardlyfrom said downwardly curved top portions to the ends of the bottom,upwardly curved portions of the wire. These legs are substantiallystraight and vertical.

At each panel I0 and I I, the wire has two bottom points I111, and anintermediate bottom point He, which is lower than points I Ia. As shownin Figs. 1 and 2, the wire I5 has the same shape and dimensions at thefront and rear panels. If the garment is folded fiat, with the innerfaces of panels In and I I abutting each other, the respective parts ofthe wire at said panels will coincide.

The Wire I5 is located at the outer faces of the panels I0 and I I, andsaid wire is fixed to the body of the garment by the connecting stitchesI8.

A branch Ls of the wire I5 is provided at each side edge of the garment.Each branch Ls has an upwardly curved bottom portion, whose bottom pointis at the level of bottom point He or below bottom point He.

Each side branch L5 is symmetrical relative to the respective side-edgeof the body. These side branches Ls are identical.

After the wire I5 has been connected, optionally and preferably inendless form to the body, a continuous elastic strip I9 is sewed aroundthe circumferentially continuous top-portion of the garment by stitches20. These stitches 20 and the stitches I6 are preferably stretchable.The reinforcing strip 20 is located in front of the top curved portionsof the wire I5. It is not connected to said top curved portions.

The drawings are substantially to scale, and reference is made theretofor further disclosure.

As one practical illustration, the height of each 4 side edge of thegarment is approximately 13 inches; the vertical distance between topedge I8 and each bottom point Fla. is approximately 3 inches; thevertical distance between top edge I8 and each median point He isapproximately 3.5 inches; the horizontal distance between the verticalstraight legs of the wire at each panel is approximately 1.25 inches to1.50 inches.

This provides sufficient height for the wire between its respectivealternate top and bottom points, to prevent the top edge-portion of thegarment from rolling down. The garment is worn in the usual manner, sothat it extends above the hips of the wearer and it encloses the hips.

The stretchable material of the garment is preferably unstretched orsubstantially unstretched while the wire I5 is sewed thereto. Theresilience of the wire exerts only slight stretching force on thematerial of the garment. If the connecting stitches I6 are removed fromthe wire I5, between the ends of a downwardly curved part thereof, thereleased part of the wire I5 will expand, so that the horizontaldistance between its legs is increased to about 2 inches.

The improved garment has a waist-portion or waist-zone, and ahip-portion or hip-zone.

If desired, the wire I5 may be confined wholly to the waist-portion ofthe garment.

As an alternative, the wire I5 may extend partially into thehip-portion. Thus all the bottom points of wire I5 may be located in thehip-portion, and all the top points I! of wire I5 may be located in thewaist-portion.

As another alternative, only some of the bottom points of wire I5 may belocated in the hipportion, and the other bottom points of wire I5 may belocated in the waist-portion.

Thus, the points I'Ia may be located in the waist-portion and therespective front and rear points We and the bottom points of the sidebranches Ls may be located in the hip-portion.

Also, only the bottom points of side branches Ls may be located in thehip-portion.

The invention is therefore not limited to the vertical distances betweenthe top and bottom points of wire I5 which are stated in the specificexample.

The garment may also be of the pantie type and it may have an extensionabove the wire I5.

When the wire I5 is held under flexure by the connecting stitches I6 inits normal non-expanded shape shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, the fiexure ofwire I5 is insuflicient to produce any wrinkles or pleats in the knittedor woven fabric or other material of the body of the garment, when saidbody is in its normal unstretched shape shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. Hencesaid material remains smooth, and its stretch is not affected by thebent wire I5.

I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention, but numerouschanges and omissions and substitutions and additions can be madewithout departing from the scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. A form-fitting girdle garment adapted for substantially-flat folding,and comprising a flexible, stretchable body, said body having a frontportion, a rear portion, and areas of connection between said portions,a flexible sinuous wire having spaced legs joined by alternate top andbottom arcuate sections, said wire extending within overlay threadsextending through the girdle.

body and over said wire, said wire being adapted for substantially-fiatfolding of the girdle and being restrained to said sinuous form by saidoverlay threads, the said top arcuate sections thereof being close tothe top edge of said body and operative to prevent said waist portionfrom rolling down.

2. A form-fitting girdle garment adapted for substantially-flat folding,and comprising a flexible, stretchable body, said body having a frontportion, a rear portion, and areas of connection between said portions,a flexible sinuous wire having spaced legs joined by alternate top andbottom arcuate sections, those legs which are joined by bottom arcuatesections at the center of the girdle body and at the areas of connectionbetween the front and back portions being restrained to said sinuousform by said overlay threads, the wire legs being substantially straightand the said top arcuate sections thereof being close to the top edge ofsaid body and operative to prevent said waist portion from rolling down.

SAMUEL T. METZ.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 478,961 Grotta July 12, 1892703,622 Taylor July 1, 1902 1,005,682 Bendel Oct. 10, 1911 1,083,398Grean Jan. 6, 1914 2,471,910 Stanton May 31, 1949 2,489,388 Rubin Nov.29, 1949 2,501,901 Herbener Mar. 28, 1950

